The present invention relates generally to storage and shipping racks and more particularly to a storage and shipping rack designed for use in conjunction with modular sections of chain link fencing.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that wire mesh fencing has achieved substantial commercial success in both residential and commercial applications as well as uses in conjunction with public and private safety barrier systems and the like. Because of the success of wire mesh fencing, generally referred to as chain link fence, the product is sold and distributed in mass quantities throughout the world. The substantial market for chain link fencing makes the storage, movement and shipment of such fencing a significant cost factor in the selling price, particularly since the fencing itself is bulky and cumbersome to handle.
Historically, chain link fencing has been sold and distributed in rolls. Specifically, the fencing itself has been rolled about a spindle, much the same as carpet and similar materials have been rolled for shipment. Large quantities of chain link fencing would be delivered to the job cite in this manner for installation. Metal posts are generally shipped as a part of the same shipping process, or separately, and posts are installed and the fence assembled by mounting it on the posts that have been installed in the ground.
More recently, chain link fencing has been manufactured in modular sections. These sections are constructed generally using a rectangular frame of steel pipe or the like with mesh wire stretched over the frame and attached to the frame at various points about its perimeter. By this arrangement, the multiple modular sections can be connected in an end-to-end relationship to create a boundary or enclosure of the desired configuration. The section will generally be strapped to posts that have been driven in the ground to hold the sections vertically in position.
The construction of wire fencing in modular sections allows much of the stretching and other tedious work associated with chain link fencing to be done at a manufacturing facility rather than in the field. Use of modular fencing has become particularly popular in applications which require the fencing to be moved periodically because the modular fencing can be disassembled in modules and moved to a different configuration or another location and reassembled without having to re-stretch the wire mesh over new fence posts; thus eliminating the substantial cost associated with that exercise.
The development of modular sections of chain link fencing has, however, resulted in new and different problems associated with the storage and shipment of the product. Specifically, the traditional method of shipping chain link fencing in rolls is no longer possible since the modular sections are preassembled into panels that can be in the range of 3-10 feet long and 4-8 feet high.
Applicant's invention is designed specifically to facilitate the storage, shipment and delivery of modular sections of chain link fencing. Storage and shipping racks are not, per se, new. For example, a shipping rack for glass panels was the subject matter of a patent issued to Hansen on Jul. 6, 1965, U.S. Pat. No. 3,193,093, and a shipping rack for folding chain was designed and patented by McCarthy in U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,149. However, the shipping racks disclosed in these patents and other prior art shipping and storage racks are not readily adaptable to the problems associated with shipment of modular sections of chain link fencing. The size and bulk of modular sections of chain link fencing require a rack of extra strength and stability, one which will adequately hold vertically stacked modular sections of chain link fencing within the rack and prevent the sections from slipping off of the base of the rack, one that will allow easy access for loading and unloading modular sections of chain link fencing onto and off of the rack, and one that can be moved, stored, loaded and unloaded through the use of a conventional fork lift truck from any side and in any direction. Such a rack and storage system is presently lacking in the prior art.